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Globe pushing to fast-track cell sites roll out

By Aerol John Pateña

November 22, 2018, 9:06 pm

MANILA -- Globe Telecom reiterated its appeal for expediting issuing permits for the construction of much-needed cell sites following a report from TowerXChange and We Are Social showing that the Philippines has the lowest cell site density in Asia for the first half of this year.

Data showed that the user-per-cell site density in the Philippines is about 4,036, based on estimates of 16,600 total cell sites against 67 million Internet users compared to its neighboring countries, such as India, Indonesia, China, and Vietnam.

“The disproportionate number of cell sites vs. Internet users in the Philippines is mainly attributed to difficulties in securing permits from various local government units (LGUs), homeowner associations (HOAs), and other stakeholders, causing considerable delay in the construction of such facilities,” Globe Chief Technology and Information Officer Gil Genio said in a statement on Thursday.

According to the report, India, with 1.459 million cell sites against 462 million internet users, has a user-per-site density of 316. Indonesia, with more than 91,700 cell sites against 132.7 million internet users, has a user-per-site density of 1,446. China, with 1.95 million cell sites against 751 million internet users, has a user-per-site density of 384, while Vietnam, with 70,000 cell sites against 64 million internet users, has a user-per-site density of 914.

“Consumer demand for mobile data is growing at an explosive rate. This means more and more cellular towers must be deployed to keep up with the demand. But deployment is only the final step to a potentially long, costly site acquisition process,” Genio said.

Globe said it takes an average of more than 25 permits over a period of eight months from negotiations and documentation of prospective cell site location to securing structural permits and approvals before it can build a single cellular tower.

Globe has created an independent tower company with the purpose of building cell towers whose incorporation was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last August.

The government, through the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), is proposing a common tower policy that will allow tower companies to build cell sites that may be leased to telco firms for the delivery of communication services.

The proposed guidelines by the DICT states that two tower companies, which must not be affiliated with major telco players PLDT and Globe, will be accredited to build and share their cell towers.

Stakeholders in the telco industry, as well as the Philippine Competition Commission, have urged the DICT to allow more tower companies in the country for the benefit of consumers and to promote competition.

The DICT hopes to finalize the guidelines on the common tower policy before the end of the year. (PNA)

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